How Fire Sprinklers Work Q: How do fire sprinklers work? A: The water in sprinkler system pipes is constantly under pressure. At each sprinkler head, the water is held back by a little plug. When sufficient heat reaches a sprinkler head, depending on the type of mechanism used, one of the following occurs: · The special solder that holds the sprinkler head together melts OR · The fluid in a glass vial in the sprinkler head expands enough to break the glass In either case, the plug is released and the water begins to flow. Water will continue flowing until the system is manually turned off. Q: Will smoke set off the sprinkler system? A: Absolutely not. It takes actual heat, usually 155 degrees Fahrenheit, to set off a sprinkler. Q: Don't sprinklers sometimes go off by themselves? A: Rarely. Fire sprinklers are extremely reliable. The odds against a sprinkler going off without cause are less than 1 in 3.3 million. Q: When one sprinkler goes off, won't they all go off? A: Only in the movies! Each sprinkler is independent and must be subjected to direct heat to go off. Q: Why do we have sprinklers in some buildings and not in others? A: The building code requires fire sprinklers only in certain kinds of buildings —hospitals, for example. In most larger buildings, however, it is general policy to provide sprinklers for all new construction. Q: Water is flowing from the sprinklers, but the alarms aren't blaring. What's going on? A: Each sprinkler system is equipped with a waterflow-sensing device connected to the building's fire alarm system. These devices incorporate a variable delay setting to prevent false alarms caused by changes in the water system supply pressure. Otherwise, every time the pressure surged, the detector would see a little water moving and activate the alarm. The waterflow-sensing devices are generally set at a 30 – 45 second delay. Back to How Does It Work

HOW DOES IT WORK?       Our Employees Tom Pecore Fire Protection Technican John .Cain President Michael .Cain Vice President Alana .Cain Office Manager Jacqelin (Jack) .Delage Service Manager / Engineer Bryant Johnson Service Technician more ...